Transcript Microsoft PowerPoint - Bournemouth University Research Online

Shades of grey in field
research: Concealment,
consent and the mobilities of
qualitative inquiry
Peter Lugosi, PhD
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
Introduction
• Ethics and ethical approaches
• Covert research and covert methods (in
principle)
• Mobilities
• Mobilities in qualitative inquiry: Revelation,
concealment and consent (in practice)
Considering why ethics are
important?
1. Moral reasons
2. Instrumental reasons
3. Pragmatic reasons
Respect
for persons
and
autonomy
Beneficence
and
nonmaleficence
Ethical
Principles
Trust
Open, honest,
inclusive
relationships
Following Brewster Smith (2000)
Justice
Fair distribution
of benefits;
fairness of
processes
Fidelity and
scientific
integrity
Ethics as a prism
Ethics as a prism: Illumination or
distortion?
Research aims
and objectives
Methods
Relationships
Participants
Outcomes
Audience
Risks/benefits
/contributions
Trust
Justice
Beneficence
Nonmaleficence
Respect for autonomy
Fidelity and integrity
Reshaped
Research aims
and objectives
Methods
Relationships
Participants
Outcomes
Audience
Risks/benefits
/contributions
Resolutions
• Systematise/rationalise research (Contractual
relationships? Danger of “ethical deskilling?
Dingwall, 1980)
• Communitarian(-ism) (Christians, 2000; Denzin,
1997)
• Reflexivity
• Ignore, deny, conceal
Ethical approaches, covert
research and covert methods
(in principle)
Ethics and covert research:
competing perspectives
• Ethical idealism and institutional rules vs
pragmatism and utilitarianism
• Absolutist vs processual perspectives on covert
research
• Covert research – a distinct and consistent
strategy?
• Covert methods – fieldwork involving some
element of concealment
Locating and establishing types of
covert research
• Active covert research
• Passive covert research
• Covertness/covert methods in overt
research
Covert research (the literature)
• Methodological, ethical, professional critiques
• Emotional and psychological costs
• Troubling cases as points of reference (Milgram,
Humphreys etc)
• Institutionally and professionally divisive term
Ethical approaches, covert
research and covert methods
(in practice)
Mobilities and
the field
ie. the spatial
nature of
research
Mobilities of
relationships
MOBILITIES
Movement,
Moorings,
Connections,
Drivers/forces
of restriction
Mobilities of
the self
See John Urry, Mimi Sheller and Kevin Hannam
Mobilities of
the research
Space and places of research
• Contexts for concealment and disclosure
• Relationships and/or encounters
• Spatial proximities
• Private and public spaces…and all in
between
Explanations and cooperation
• Abrupt, incremental and indirect disclosure
(see Lugosi, 2006)
• Clarity and adequacy of explanation
(researching...studying...writing)
• Routines, spiels and scripts
• Maintaining informed consent over time
Relationships, affiliations and
obligations
• Social and cultural proximities (e.g. class, gender,
sexuality, likes/dislikes etc and relationships)
• Friends, colleagues, informants, participants,
respondents or subjects?
• Revelations and confessions
• Co-creation (ideals and limitations)
Selves and the development of the
study
• Exploratory research
• Motivations and (in)authentic selves
“To see is to share, to look is to take, to
watch is to steal”
• New day, new research
Analysing, interpreting and
communicating findings
• Challenges of publishing
• Anticipating feedback and reactions
• Implications of research and interpretation
Closing thoughts
Ethics as intellectual inquiry, institutional practice or a
critical prism
It can be destructive and a threat: creating unnecessary
boundaries and obstacles
It can also be a constructive process and opportunity:
encouraging rigour and nuanced understanding of the
research process, its stakeholders and outcomes
Questions of ethics are increasingly unavoidable
Closing thoughts
• Dangers of viewing research as a rational and stable process
• The (cliché of the) overt-covert “continuum”
• The forces/factors that move research from one end to the
other
• Not either/or but both/and: all we have are shades of grey
• Be aware of institutional discourses; use existing
literature/cases, consult with a range of colleagues, peers and
“participants” and use these encounters as points of reference
to develop your “moral career”
Questions?
Further reading
Beauchamp, T., Faden, R., Wallace, J., & Walters, L. (Eds.). (1982). Ethical issues in social scientific research.
Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
Bulmer, M. (ed.) (1982) Social Research Ethics: An Examination of the Merits of Covert Participant Observation,
London: Macmillan.
Brewster Smith (2000) Moral foundations in research with human participants. In B. Sales and S. Folkman (Eds.),
Ethics in Research with Human Participants (pp. 3-10). Washington: APA.
Christians, C. G. (2000). Ethics and politics in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.),
Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.) (pp. 133-155). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
de Laine, M. (2000) Fieldwork, Participation and Practice: Ethics and Dilemmas in Qualitative Research. London:
Sage.
Duncombe, J., & Jessop, J. (2002). ‘Doing rapport’ and ethics of ‘faking friendship.’ In M. Mauthner, M. Birch, J.
Jessop, & T. Miller (Eds.), Ethics in qualitative research (pp. 107-122). London: Sage.
Finch, J. (1984). It’s great to have someone to talk to: The ethics and politics of interviewing women. In C. Bell, &
H. Roberts (Eds.), Social researching: Politics, problems, practice (pp. 70-87). London: Routledge.
Herrera, C. D. (1999). Two arguments for ‘covert research’ in social research. British Journal of Sociology, 50(2),
331-341.
Herrera, C. D. (2003). A clash of methodology and ethics in ‘undercover’ social science. Philosophy of the Social
Sciences, 33(3), 351-362.
Further reading
Homan, R. (1991) The Ethics of Social Research. London: Longman.
Kimmel, A. J. (1996). Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research: A survey. Oxford: Blackwell.
Leo, R. A. (1995). Trial and tribulations: Courts, ethnography, and the need for an evidentiary privilege for
academic researchers. The American Sociologist, 26(1), 113-134.
Lugosi, P. (2006) Between overt and covert research: Concealment and revelation in an ethnographic Study of
commercial hospitality. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(3), 541-561.
Lugosi, P. (2008) Covert research. In L. Given (Ed.) SAGE Encyclopaedia of qualitative research methods.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Oakes, J. M. (2002). Risks and wrongs in social science research: An evaluator’s guide to the IRB. Evaluation
Review, 26(5), 443-479.
Punch, M. (1986). The Politics and Ethics of Fieldwork. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Punch, M. (1994). Politics and ethics in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of
qualitative research (pp. 83-97). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Qualitative Inquiry (2007) Special issue on research ethics Volume 13, Number 3 (This journal has several other
articles on the subject)
Shaffir, W. B. and Stebbins, R. A. (eds.) (1991) Experiencing Fieldwork: An Inside View of Qualitative Research,
Newbury Park, CA: Sage.